Blog
California and EU’s Climate Disclosure Policies Face Major Setbacks
As we close out 2025, corporate leaders in the US should breathe a sigh of regulatory relief. On top of the deregulatory spree that…
Blog
The Supreme Court should restore the president’s removal authority
This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in one of the most consequential administrative law disputes of the century. Trump v.
Blog
Politics over pensions: An ESG report card for proxy voting
Unleashing Prosperity (UP) recently released a timely report, “Putting Politics Over Pensions: The 2025 Unleash Prosperity Report Card on Investment Fund Managers and…
Law & Liberty
America’s Hidden Judiciary
Unbeknownst to most Americans, federal regulatory agencies have their own court system for adjudicating disputes that businesses and citizens have with regulators. These agencies…
Blog
Bank regulators repeal intrusive ESG guidance
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Federal Reserve Board of Governors (Fed Board) withdrew their controversial interagency guidance on climate financial risks…
Regulatory Studies Center Columbian College of Arts & Sciences
Exploring the Dynamics of Regulatory Adjudication
In brief… Federal agency adjudication allows certain agencies to oversee and resolve their legal disputes internally. While this process is fairly well documented, what is…
Blog
CFPB breaks its stranglehold over adjudications
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) just announced that it will revise its adjudication rules to ensure greater fairness. Specifically, the CFPB is…
Blog
Exposing America’s hidden judiciary
I have a new paper published with the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), How Interagency Borrowing of Administrative Law Judges Circumvents the Rule of…
Blog
In absence of federal action, states begin challenging the proxy duopoly
The two largest proxy advisors, Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), have dominated the proxy voting market for the past 22 years. Following…
Blog
California’s climate disclosure laws will devastate interstate commerce
This week, on behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, I submitted a public comment to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) notice for…
Comment
CEI’S Request for Federal Intervention on State Climate Disclosure Laws That Adversely Affect Interstate Commerce and Violate Constitutional Limits
Request for Information on State Laws Having Significant Adverse Effects on the National Economy or Significant Adverse Effects on Interstate Commerce Dear Mr. Schilling,…
Blog
The beginning of the end for net-zero financial alliances
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the world’s premier financial institutions formed bold climate finance coalitions. The most notable of these…
Blog
DC Circuit Court shields proxy advisor duopoly
In an unfortunate move, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals recently struck down the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) 2020 Proxy Advisor Rule.
Blog
The CAT’s nine lives could be up
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals recently vacated a funding proposal for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) largest regulatory program to date.
Issues and Insights
Congress Misses Opportunity To Repeal IRA Stock Buyback Tax
Republicans hailed the One Big Beautiful Bill for achieving tax cuts and spending reductions. Despite this victory, the bill was missing a fix for an…
Blog
Dodd-Frank 15 years later: How financial regulators leveled up
The leadup to Dodd-Frank This month marks the 15th anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. This law was enacted in…
RealClear Markets
Book Review: Norbert Michel & Jennifer Schulp’s ‘Financing Opportunity’
America is the wealthiest nation on earth, with financial markets that are the envy of the world. Those markets have contributed to America’s rise…
Blog
EU downsizes and delays its climate disclosure policy
The European Union (EU) is undergoing a major reality check regarding its climate disclosure policy for corporations. Its executive arm, the European Commission, has…
News Release
Courts should allow CFPB to vacate case against small mortgage firm
U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama on June 12 denied a request by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to vacate a Biden-era settlement against the Chicago-based…
Blog
The CFPB director’s dominance over adjudication must end
On behalf of CEI, I submitted a new comment to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) calling on the Bureau to rescind…
Comment
CEI comments on CFPB: Rules of Practice for Adjudication Proceedings
Blog
How IAIS advances DEI policies
As explained in an earlier blog post, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has drifted away from its mission and is actively…
Blog
SEC commissioners regain subpoena power, potentially curtailing record-level fines
After 16 years, commissioners at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally adopted a rule to regain the authority to launch investigations from…
Blog
CEI primer on agency adjudication
Agency adjudication is the process by which administrative agencies resolve legal disputes that implicate regulatory policies. Agencies render decisions through in-house tribunals commonly known…
Blog
The shadow nonprofit’s push for ESG
Nonprofit interest groups play a significant role in advancing policy change in government. The IRS affords tax exemption to thousands of these groups via…
News Release
CFPB seeks to un-do lawsuit against small mortgage firm: CEI statement
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week took the unusual step of requesting to vacate a lawsuit and settlement penalizing a small Chicago-based…
Blog
SEC restores corporate control over ESG proposals
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has wasted no time in reforming controversial regulations under the Trump administration. Beyond targeting formal rules, GOP commissioners…
Blog
Legislation would restore the full power of the Seventh Amendment
Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) has introduced a bill offering the first legislative step toward administrative law court (ALC) reform. Known as the…
RealClear Energy
SEC’s Climate Risk Disclosure Rule Would Compel Companies to Make Scientifically False and Misleading Disclosures
In March last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued its climate risk disclosure rule, called “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for…
Op-Eds
Op-Ed: Why states should avoid the temptation to tax unrealized gains
Prospects for a federal wealth tax could be nil in the Trump era, but states – specifically blue states – may be tempted to…
Blog
SEC abandons legal arguments in favor of climate disclosure rule
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced this month that it will no longer defend the indefensible, abandoning in court its arguments favoring…
Blog
Trio of agencies scrap their climate disclosure mandate, SEC should take note
Prior to Inauguration Day 2025, the Department of Defense (DoD), General Service Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) collectively withdrew a…
The Daily Economy
Federal Agencies Stack Their Courts Against You
Winning a case against the federal government is difficult. Most federal agencies are well represented by an army of skilled attorneys. The Department of…
Restoring America
Trump must cancel CFPB censorship
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and tech entrepreneur Marc Andreessen dropped bombshells on the popular Joe Rogan Experience about political persecution from…
Blog
Regulators need to cool off and slow down their rulemakings
Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) has reintroduced an important bill that would make the administrative rulemaking process fairer for the public. Known as the…
Blog
DOGE should investigate Biden’s natural capital accounts
With an incoming Congress and president at the helm, Republicans are taking aim at problematic Biden-era regulations. In concert with the Department of Government…
Products
Free to Prosper: Corporate governance
National Review
Regulators Unleash a Climate-Disclosure Triple Threat to Businesses
U.S. businesses are bracing for a new wave of mandatory climate-disclosure policies in 2025 and beyond. The Securities and Exchange Commission, European Union, and California…
Blog
US businesses brace for a triple climate disclosure burden
Thousands of US companies—both public and private—are bracing for an expensive wave of climate disclosure mandates. If regulators in the US and abroad have…
News Release
Report: SEC climate disclosure rule complicated by EU, California
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report explains the problem businesses face complying with complicated, disparate climate disclosure rules imposed by multiple governments – the…
Study
Climate Disclosure’s Triple Threat
Introduction Financial regulators from the US federal government, California, and Europe have each recently adopted climate disclosure rules for companies. These environmental, social, and…
Reason
Abolish the Securities and Exchange Commission
Reason cites CEI’s expert on the magnitude of SEC compliance costs Besides, the costs of SEC compliance are staggering. Looking at the climate…
City Journal
Defying Administrative Tyranny
Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law, by Neil Gorsuch and Janie Nitze (HarperCollins, 304 pp., $25.60)…
Blog
Circuit Courts split over the SEC’s regulatory treatment of proxy advisors
The Fifth and Sixth Circuits are currently split over the legality of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Proxy Advisory Rule. Depending on…
Blog
The ‘Carbon’ Futures Trading Commission vows to decarbonize futures trading
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently approved one of its most controversial guidance document to date. Under this new policy, the CFTC…
Inman
Redlining settlement wouldn’t resolve 1st Amendment questions
Inman cited CEI’s experts on Consumer Financial Protection Bureau In an April 2023 Wall Street Journal op-ed, CEI fellows John Berlau…
Blog
In honor of Free Speech Week, end all regulatory gag orders
Free Speech Week is an annual, nonpartisan celebration of the indispensable right to speak one’s mind. While every level of government is…
Blog
House advances anti-ESG legislation on investments, pensions
The US House of Representatives recently passed a major ESG reform package that is on its way to the Senate. In a vote…
Blog
Political review of agency adjudication and recommendations for reform
Abstract Formal agency adjudication reserves the final decision-making authority to the political leadership of the agency. Many organizations and watchdogs have taken issue with…
GWU Regulatory Studies Center
Political Review of Agency Adjudication and Recommendations for Reform
Formal agency adjudication reserves the final decision-making authority to the political leadership of the agency. Many organizations and watchdogs have taken issue with how…